Heat exchanger structure with flow divider

ABSTRACT

A heat exchanger structure with flow divider includes a heat-conductive main body provided with a flow passage having at least one inner turn and one outer turn, and at least one flow divider located near and downstream the inner turn, such that a cooling liquid in the flow passage flowing through the inner and the outer turn to reach at the flow divider is divided by the flow divider into two smaller flows. Therefore, the cooling liquid in the flow passage has reduced pressure drop and it is not necessary to increase the operating power of a pump that delivers the cooling liquid into the flow passage.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a heat exchanger structure, and moreparticularly to a heat exchanger with flow divider that effectivelyreduces the pressure drop of a cooling liquid that changes its flowdirection at a turn in the heat exchanger, so that a pump for deliveringthe cooling liquid into the heat exchanger does not need to increase theoperating power thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Following the increasing progress in the electronic informationtechnology, various kinds of electronic apparatus, such as computers,notebook computers, communication chassis and the like, are now highlypopular and have very wider applications. However, when these electronicapparatus operate at high speed, electronic elements thereof willproduce waste heat. The produced heat must be timely expelled from theelectronic apparatus, lest the heat should accumulate in the electronicapparatus to constantly increase the temperature thereof and causeoverheating, damage, failure, or low efficiency of the electronicelements.

To improve the above-mentioned heat dissipation problem, one of the mostcommon ways is to mount a cooling fan in the apparatus to forcefullydissipate the produced heat into ambient air. However, the cooling fancan only produce very limited air flow and accordingly fails to enablelargely lowered temperature and upgraded heat dissipation effect.Another solution has been suggested to directly attach a water-coolingtype heat dissipation device to a heat-producing element, such as acentral processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor unit (MPU), south-bridgeand north-bridge chips, and other electronic elements that would producehigh amount of heat during operation thereof, and then, use a pump tointroduce a cooling liquid from a reservoir into the water-cooling typeheat dissipation device, so that the heat transferred from theheat-producing element to the water-cooling heat dissipation device isabsorbed by the cooling liquid through heat exchange. Then, theheat-absorbed cooling liquid flows out of the water-cooling heatdissipation device via an outlet thereof to a thermal module and iscooled again before flowing back into the reservoir. By circulating thecooling liquid, it is helpful in lowering the temperature of theheat-producing element, allowing the heat-producing element to operatesmoothly.

For the water-cooling type heat dissipation device to effectivelyachieve the purpose of heat dissipation, a plurality of turns isprovided along a flow passage in the device for the cooling liquid tostay in the device over a prolonged time, so that the cooling liquid hasincreased time for absorbing the heat. The flow passage with a pluralityof turns also provides increased contact area with the cooling liquidfor sufficient heat exchange.

However, while the flow passage with turns indeed allows the coolingliquid to stay in the water-cooling type heat dissipation device longer,the turns also change the flow direction of the cooling liquid toadversely affect the flowing of the cooling liquid and result inpressure drop of the cooling liquid. At this point, it is necessary toincrease the operating power of the pump in order to introduce the sameamount of cooling liquid into the flow passage.

Therefore, the conventional water-cooling type heat dissipation devicehas the following disadvantages: (1) the cooling liquid is subject tothe problem of pressure drop; and (2) it is necessary to increase theoperating power of the pump to overcome the problem of pressure drop.

It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop an improved heatexchanger structure with flow divider to overcome the problems in theprior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A primary object of the present invention is to provide a heat exchangerstructure with flow divider to reduce the pressure drop of a coolingliquid that changes flow direction at a turn in the heat exchanger.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a heat exchangerstructure with flow divider that does not necessitate a cooling liquiddelivering pump to increase the operating power thereof.

To achieve the above and other objects, the heat exchanger structurewith flow divider according to the present invention includes aheat-conductive main body provided with a flow passage having at leastone inner turn and one outer turn, and at least one flow divider locatednear and downstream the inner turn, such that a length of the flowpassage with the flow divider is divided into at least a firstsub-passage and a second sub-passage. Therefore, a cooling liquid in theflow passage flowing through the inner and the outer turn is divided bythe flow divider into two parts to separately flow through the first andthe second sub-passage. By doing this, the cooling liquid flowingthrough the inner and the outer turn is subject to only a reducedpressure drop, and it is not necessary to increase the operating powerof a pump for delivering the cooling liquid into the flow passage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The structure and the technical means adopted by the present inventionto achieve the above and other objects can be best understood byreferring to the following detailed description of the preferredembodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a heat exchanger structurewith flow divider according to a first preferred embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is an assembled view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an assembled sectional view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the heat exchangerstructure of FIG. 1 in use;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an assembled sectional view of a heat exchanger structureaccording to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an assembled sectional view of a heat exchanger structureaccording to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is an assembled sectional view of a heat exchanger structureaccording to a fourth embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a heat exchanger structure according to a fifthembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will now be described with some preferredembodiments thereof and with reference to the accompanying drawings. Forthe purpose of easy to understand, elements that are the same in thepreferred embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals.

Please refer to FIGS. 1 and 2 that are exploded and assembledperspective views, respectively, of a heat exchanger structure with flowdivider according to a first preferred embodiment of the presentinvention; and to FIG. 3 that is assembled sectional view of FIG. 1. Forthe purpose of conciseness, the present invention is also brieflyreferred to as “the heat exchanger structure” herein. As shown, the heatexchanger structure in the first embodiment is generally denoted byreference numeral 10, and includes a cover 20 and a heat-conductive mainbody 30. The cover 20 is assembled to an open top of the main body 30 toclose the latter, so as to define a flow passage 31 in the heatexchanger structure 10. The flow passage 31 includes at least one turn32. In the drawings, there are illustrated two turns 32. At each of theturns 32, there is an inner turn 321 and an outer turn 322. The flowpassage 31 has a bottom 33, and a flow divider 34 is provided on thebottom 33 near and downstream the inner turn 321 of each of the turns 32to extend toward the cover 20. Each of the flow dividers 34, the flowpassage 31 and the cover 20 together define at least a first sub-passage311 and a second sub-passage 312. The first sub-passage 311 has a widthlarger than that of the second sub-passage 312. The heat-conductive mainbody 30 is provided at predetermined positions with an inlet 35 and anoutlet 36, which separately communicate with two opposite ends of theflow passage 31.

Please refer to FIGS. 4 and 5 at the same time, which show the use ofthe heat exchanger structure according to the preferred embodiment ofthe present invention. As shown, the inlet 35 and the outlet 36 areconnected to a pump 40 via a first pipe 41 and a second pipe 42,respectively. The pump 40 drives a cooling liquid to flow through thefirst pipe 41 into the flow passage 31 in the heat-conductive main body30 via the inlet 35. The cooling liquid flows along the flow passage 31to pass through the at least one turn 32 between the inner turn 311 andthe outer turn 312 thereof and reaches at the flow divider 34 downstreamthe turn 32. At this point, the cooling liquid is divided by the flowdivider 34 into two smaller flows, which separately flow through thefirst sub-passage 311 and the second sub-passage 312 defined by the flowdivider 34 in the flow passage 31. By doing this, the cooling liquidflowing through the turn 32 is subject to only a reduced pressure drop.Therefore, the cooling liquid can maintain at a desired flow ratewithout the need of increasing the operating power of the pump 40.

FIG. 6 is an assembled sectional view of a heat exchanger structureaccording to a second embodiment of the present invention. The secondembodiment is generally structurally similar to the first embodimentexcept that each of the flow dividers 34 is extended from the bottom 33of the flow passage 31 to contact with the cover 20, so that the cover20 and the flow divider 34 together define the first sub-passage 311 andthe second sub-passage 312 in the flow passage 31 downstream the turn32. The second embodiment provides the same effect as the firstembodiment to reduce the pressure drop of the cooling liquid afterpassing through the turn 32; so that it is not necessary to increase theoperating power of the pump 40 (see FIG. 4).

FIGS. 7 and 8 are assembled sectional views of heat exchanger structuresaccording to a third and a fourth embodiment of the present invention,respectively. The third embodiment is generally structurally similar tothe previous embodiments except that each of the flow dividers 34 in thethird embodiment is provided on the cover 20 to downward extend into theflow passage 31 to contact with the bottom 33, so as to divide the flowpassage 31 into the first and the second sub-passage 311, 312. Thefourth embodiment is generally structurally similar to the thirdembodiment except that each of the flow dividers 34 is downward extendedfrom the cover 20 into the flow passage 31 toward the bottom 33. Thethird and fourth embodiments provide the same effect as the first andsecond embodiments to reduce the pressure drop of the cooling liquidafter passing through the turn 32; so that it is not necessary toincrease the operating power of the pump 40 (see FIG. 4).

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a heat exchanger structure according to a fifthembodiment of the present invention. The fifth embodiment is generallystructurally similar to the previous embodiments except that an upstreamend of each of the flow dividers 34 closer to the turn 32 is formed intoa pointed end 341, which allows the cooling liquid to flow into thefirst sub-passage 311 and the second sub-passage 312 without beinginterfered. The fifth embodiment provides the same effect as theprevious embodiments to reduce the pressure drop of the cooling liquidafter passing through the turn 32; so that it is not necessary toincrease the operating power of the pump 40 (see FIG. 4).

In brief, the heat exchanger structure with flow divider according tothe present invention has the following advantages: (1) the pressuredrop of the cooling liquid after passing through the turn is reduced;and (2) it is not necessary to increase the operating power of the pump.

The present invention has been described with some preferred embodimentsthereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in thedescribed embodiments can be carried out without departing from thescope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limitedonly by the appended claims.

1. A heat exchanger structure with flow divider, comprising aheat-conductive main body being provided with at least one flow passagehaving at least one inner turn and one outer turn; and at least one flowdivider being located near and downstream the inner turn, such that alength of the flow passage with the flow divider is divided into atleast a first sub-passage and a second sub-passage.
 2. The heatexchanger structure with flow divider as claimed in claim 1, wherein theheat-conductive main body is provided at predetermined positions with aninlet and an outlet; and the inlet and the outlet separatelycommunicating with two opposite ends of the flow passage.
 3. The heatexchanger structure with flow divider as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising a cover for assembling to an open top of the heat-conductivemain body to close the latter, so as to complete the flow passage in theheat-conductive main body.
 4. The heat exchanger structure with flowdivider as claimed in claim 3, wherein the flow passage has a bottom, onwhich the at least one flow divider is provided to extend toward thecover, so that the bottom of the flow passage, the flow divider, and thecover together define the first sub-passage and the second sub-passagein the flow passage.
 5. The heat exchanger structure with flow divideras claimed in claim 4, wherein the at least one flow divider is incontact with the cover, so that the bottom of the flow passage, the flowdivider, and the cover together define the first sub-passage and thesecond sub-passage in the flow passage.
 6. The heat exchanger structurewith flow divider as claimed in claim 3, wherein the at least one flowdivider is provided on the cover to extend downward into the flowpassage, so as to define the first sub-passage and the secondsub-passage in the flow passage.
 7. The heat exchanger structure withflow divider as claimed in claim 6, wherein the at least one flowdivider is in contact with a bottom of the flow passage.
 8. The heatexchanger structure with flow divider as claimed in claim 2, wherein theinlet on the heat-conductive main body is connected to an end of atleast a first pipe, which is further connected at another opposite endto a pump; and the pump is further connected to an end of at least asecond pipe, which is further connected at another opposite end to theoutlet on the heat-conductive main body.
 9. The heat exchanger structurewith flow divider as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first sub-passagehas a width larger than that of the second sub-passage.
 10. The heatexchanger structure with flow divider as claimed in claim 1, wherein theflow divider has an upstream end being formed into a pointed end.